I’ve always wanted to see France. I was inexplicably drawn to it from the time I was young.  The culture, the atmosphere, the country itself, it all just seemed so welcoming to me.  There was something familiar in all the things I researched and discovered, in every movie I saw that took place in France  I studied French for 7 years—I was given the Senior Medallion in French upon graduation and my classmates had often joked that my future self would be living in France starring in the educational videos we watched to learn the language.  I dreamt of visiting the entire country forever. It was somewhere I wanted to go with my husband and son for ages.  My sister has a friend who lives there and I found out she recently decided to go visit her in Paris.  Upon sharing this news, I found out my other sister also recently agreed to a trip to France in 2026.  I’m thrilled for them because it’s an amazing experience and given that opportunity, I would take it in a heartbeat—I wouldn’t begrudge that type of trip to anyone.  I felt my heart twinge a bit because I truly do want to go and I realized that the only reason I haven’t gone is because I haven’t gone.  Sure, there are some arrangements I need to make and some preparation I have to do to be able to go—but there is nothing stopping me from doing it.     

So here is the lesson: To change the fruits, we have to change the roots. The fruits are the results we see (income for example) but it all grows from roots like thoughts and emotions (a timely lesson from MindValley advertising).  I’ve told myself for ages that I can’t go because I couldn’t afford it.  That I wouldn’t know what to do.  That I might be able to afford to go alone but I would never go alone.  That I was afraid of flying over there.  This isn’t just about the fruit of taking a trip to France, this is about the entirety of how I view life.  I allow myself to be distracted and bogged down and overworked, constantly taking on new projects, not raising my hand enough when I feel like I’m drowning.  So I come very near to drowning before I come to my senses and put my foot down.  I built a narrative around the idea that I couldn’t step away from the life I’ve built here—the work I do, my home, my parents and that I couldn’t afford it.  That has bled over into the every day as well.  I get myself so stuck in work and projects that even the local trips I want to take are constantly pushed back. I constantly put my life on hold for one responsibility or another. I admittedly like to see all my ducks in a row, it makes me comfortable but the only guarantee we have is this moment.  We don’t have to have all those ducks in a row—some ducks move slower than others and some are ready to fly off.  Some like to waddle into the wall.  Some like to splash in the pond.  The point is nothing will ever fully align perfectly to make me feel comfortable.  So I need to be comfortable with doing what calls to me.   

So when we want to change something around us, the first thing we must do is look inwardly.  There have been a few instances lately of people doing things I’ve always wanted to do (writing, travel, certain local experiences) and I could definitely mope about it.  But I choose to see this as the energy I’m seeking is close to me.  The opportunities are at hand if these people are in my proximity doing the things I’m wanting to do.  We have to go in to get out and we must find what our roots are currently being fed.  Everything we see is a reflection of some previous thought or idea or belief we had.  We can’t move forward toward growth and change if we hold onto the same things we always did.  I know this message isn’t new but I felt, as we head into the end of the year, that it was an appropriate reminder.  This year has flown by and it feels like I could barely catch my breath in this last quarter.  I know that I wasn’t able to be as attentive and present as I wanted to be so some of my work hasn’t been what I thought it would be.  I know moving forward that I don’t want to get bogged down again, taken under by an endless to-do list and distraction.  I know the world will move on even if I don’t meet that deadline.  And I know that the experience of France is waiting for me at the right time and it will be exactly what I need it to be.  I just need to water those roots a bit more.